The Brightest Light
by Mint
Summary: When the world is falling apart, who would you grab onto for dear life? CloudxAerith


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**The Brightest Light **

**_"I hope you find your light… And when you do, I hope it leads you back to me."_**

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The world was burning… literally. There were buildings spitting fire through shattered windows, sidewalks became holes on the ground and the sky was a violet red color under a grey blanket of smoke covering it. The more they ran through the streets of Hollow Bastion the more they heard people screaming and running for their lives with panic in their eyes.

It was a horrible scene to look at and it made her heart ache in pain to be watching it. She held her staff tightly between her hands and yelled out a water spell toward some heartless that were getting too close from her. _When will it stop?_ She wondered desperately as she ran forward through a cloud of dark smoke. She raised one arm in front of her face to prevent inhaling too much but her eyes started burning and tears started forming.

"Aerith!" She heard Yuffie call but she couldn't see her, her eyes were in pain. The brunette rubbed them in distress hoping not to be hit by heartless while she couldn't see. She tried to open her eyes but it stung. "Aerith! Watch out!" Yuffie's voice sounded panicky.

Aerith screamed when she felt something heavily hitting her abdomen sending her flying a couple feet backwards. Her back reached the ground with a piercing pain while the burning of her eyes seemed to decrease. Straining her vision to try to protect herself she saw several human-sized black heartless dashing toward her. Too many deadly yellow eyes glittered in her direction. She quickly kneeled down on the ground ignoring her throbbing back and curled up holding her staff vertically stuck on the floor and in front of her. She bent down her head and closed her eyes waiting for the heartless to strike. It was stupid to just sit there waiting for the impact but the pain prevented her from getting up so the least she could do was trying to block the attack as much as she could.

She waited expectantly but no heavy weights hit her body, she felt nothing. Instead, she heard the sound of boots scratching on the soil all around her and the clinking of a blade unstoppably slashing bodies in front of her.

Suddenly one's strong hand clenched around her arm and helped her up on her feet. As she got up her back and stomach sent a striking pain through her body and she could finally open her eyes although she still felt them itchy. She curved her body forward holding her stomach area around her arm and gritted her teeth in pain.

"You shouldn't be here." Someone's silky but firm voice told her. The voice sounded angry but concerned at the same time.

She looked up to see two shimmering sapphire blue eyes staring at her. His face was serious, his lips pressed together.

"I wanted to help." Aerith said ignoring the voice.

"You were already helping from where you were." The tall man assisting her to walk supported her with one arm around her back. "What you did was just stupid. You could have been killed."

"I know you wouldn't let that happen, Cloud." Aerith managed to smile at him and he shook his head, it infuriated him how she acted by her heart and not her mind.

"Aerith." He sighed. "What if I got here too late? If something happened to you… I… don't know what I'd do."

"Nothing happened Cloud… You always save me. No matter where I am, you're always there for me." Aerith assured him. She noticed he was easing her pain. They were walking back to Cid's headquarters.

"It's not that simple Aerith." Cloud insisted impatiently. "One day I might not be there for some reason."

"No one needed to be healed so I decided I should join everyone in the fight!" Her eyes were tearful. "I couldn't just sit there and wait for someone to get wounded!" Aerith said stubbornly.

"And you ended up wounding yourself!" Cloud looked back at her in disbelief.

"Where is Yuffie? I heard her back there." She asked trying to change the subject that was leading nowhere since both of them would not agree with one another.

"She stayed in the battlefield." Cloud answered coolly.

"I have to go back!" Aerith tried to turn around as they were getting too close to the house now. He held her slim body back and turned her in the direction he was taking as easy as it was breathing.

"You're staying here." Cloud told her.

"No!" She gathered all her might to let go of his grip and gave one step backwards. "You can't keep me here when the world is falling apart! We are all a team and I'm going to do my job as part of that team. I will fight alongside with you and the others. Yuffie, Leon, Cid… they need my help there!" She pointed with her arm as they heard another explosion not too far from where they stood. Her shoulders went up as she ducked her head with the sound.

"Aerith… You're hurt." He examined her scratched elbows and knees, her other arm was still holding her abdomen. There were traces of soot on her cheeks making her wide-open emerald green eyes stand out on her pale white skin.

"I'll be fine!" She retorted. "In case you haven't noticed, I heal. If you leave me here, I'll just run away and get back there as fast as I can."

"What will I do with you?" Cloud sighed shaking his head. "Alright then… But promise me you'll stay close." It was better to keep her under his sight than somewhere alone where he couldn't be there to protect her. If she stayed with him, he wouldn't let anything get near.

Aerith nodded once, her eyes determinedly looking at him.

"We'll go meet with the others." He said and that's exactly what they left to do after Aerith had cast a healing spell on herself to try to relieve the pain of her bruises.

"Do you think we'll make it?" She asked a few minutes later as they walked. "It looks pretty bad."

"I don't intend to die yet." He looked at her by the corner of his eyes watching her walk with her head down, thoughtfully.

"Have you seen him yet?" She was sure he knew who she meant. He kept silent, just walking. "I see… What will you do when you find him?"

"Fight him."

"Why?"

"I'm searching for the light he took away from me." Cloud answered and his hands turned into tight fists as he remembered.

"Your light." Aerith looked down thinking about what he was saying.

"In this insane world we're living in right now… I need my light to keep me going." He said staring ahead as they were approaching the clearing where their friends were standing their guard.

"I hope you find your light… And when you do, I hope it leads you back to me." Aerith said and it made him stop his march to turn and look at her, his mouth slightly opened. Her chestnut-brown hair was covering her eyes as she had her head down looking at the ground. Without looking up she ran past him and toward their friends. He stood there frozen while he watched her go. He had always thought Aerith was gorgeous looking, sweet, loving and he did have a special care for her. But that she looked at him differently? It had never crossed his mind and it was just too good to be true. He was not an easy person to get along with. Quiet, cold and with a lot in his mind. Definitely not the greatest catch. He shook his head snapping back to reality. There was a world he needed to save first.

"Are you alright?" Yuffie asked her when she joined the group. Aerith nodded. "I was going to help you back then but Cloud came out of nowhere and went hazardous on the heartless I thought I wasn't going to do anything there."

"I did hear you! But I'm alright thanks to Cloud." Aerith smiled.

"They're coming." Leon interrupted and clenched his gunblade between his hands making the sound of leather gloves rubbing on the metal surface of the gunblade. They heard loud bangs of demolished buildings crashing down followed by silence. A couple of seconds later the footsteps of thousands and thousands of different kinds of heartless started circling on them coming from all around the small group of warriors standing their ground on the main square of the town. Cloud went into battle position holding his buster sword in front of him and leaned in closer to Aerith's side.

"The anxiety is killing me!" They heard Yuffie exhale. They all waited back to back to each others in a circle, their eyes on the streets the enemies would be coming from.

"Aerith…" Cloud called the brunette and she slightly looked at him, one foot ahead of the other, hands gripping her long silver staff. He hesitated for two seconds. "Be careful."

She nodded and focused on the black stain of heartless flooding the square they were standing on. She swallowed dry but didn't flinch.

From there on the battle wasn't pretty, Aerith kept healing when she had to heal and fighting when she had to fight, protected by Cloud when she had to centre on healing the others. She would give them rushes of new strength and soothe their pain from time to time and it was getting pretty tiring for them all. But no one said anything to complain, it was their duty, their mission to protect the town and they would win the battle or die trying because no one dared to give up and leave their friends and the town to their own fates.

Leon unstoppably slashed heartless to his right and left and the ones far enough for him to use the gun, he would be more than happy to pull its trigger as much as he could.

Cloud heard Aerith scream from behind him and instinctively turned around to watch her. He dashed in her direction and got rid of two fiends that had bit her in the arm. Dark blood splattered all around them as he did.

"Are you alright?" He yelled between the battling sounds of weaponry hitting their targets and the shrieking noises coming from the dark creatures.

"I'm ok!" Aerith panted and rested her hands on her knees.

"You don't look ok!" Cloud remained fighting those who got too close to them.

"Don't worry about me! I'll be fine!" Aerith insisted and raised her staff in front of her to send a ball of fire flying in the direction of the creatures. She didn't like fighting but it wasn't like she had any choice.

From within the cloud of dust they were fighting in, her eyes didn't loose sight of Cloud's crimson cloak the one he wore around his shoulders. The glimpse of red followed by the dark of his uniform comforted her, assured her that he was near and it eased her heart. Until she could no longer see him.

"Where's Cloud?" She asked Leon, her heart started racing.

"He spotted Sephiroth somewhere and went after him." Leon said, not stopping to talk.

"What…" Aerith's voice was a mere whisper.

"We're almost done with them here I told him to go sort his things out." Leon informed. "He asked me to take care of you." And with that, Leon furiously slashed the last one of the heartless standing. His eyes looked tired but his body showed otherwise. He rested the gunblade on his shoulder relieved that the worst part was over.

"Oh…" She looked down. _He could have let me know…_She thought as she stared into the distance trying to guess which direction he had taken.

"Is something wrong?" Cid asked interrupting her thoughts.

"No…" Aerith shook her head sadly.

"We should go back to the headquarters and rest for a while." Leon pressed one hand against one bleeding cut he had on his arm. "We never know when we'll have to fight again."

Once back inside the house Aerith sat heavily on a chair and rested her head on her hands, worriedly.

"When will you tell him?" She heard Yuffie's voice ask her from a chair next to hers.

"Tell who what?" She straightened up and looked at Yuffie wide-eyed.

"You know… Cloud." Yuffie grinned and took a sip of water from the bottle she was holding. Aerith noticed the young ninja had scratches all over her legs and arms but showed no sign of weakness or pain. Despite her young age Yuffie had proven to be very strong. The flower girl shrugged. "Come on Aerith… Everyone knows there's something going on between you two. We're just waiting for the first one to let their feelings show!"

"What? No… It's not like that." Aerith blushed and looked away. Deep down she wanted it to be like that but until Cloud settled things out with Sephiroth and finally rested his heart Cloud would always be distant. But all she wanted now was for him to come back. "I think I'm going to my room now. I need a change of clothes." Aerith laughed nervously changing the subject.

"I understand you need to think about what to tell him." Yuffie winked at her as the flower girl got up. Aerith shook her head and sighed at her friend.

When Aerith fell on her bed looking at the ceiling she hadn't realized just how tired she felt. It had only been a couple of minutes before she fell soundlessly asleep. A dreamless agitated sleep.

A few hours later she woke up in the middle of the night startled. She sat on her bed and rubbed her fingers in between her eyes to force them to get used to the night light. She rose to her feet and picked up a dress that was neatly folded on top of her armchair. It was the white one she most treasured. It had two thin stripes on her shoulders with four small sowed pink flowers in one of its stripes. It went down to her knees where it riffled and the corset tied on her back with a silky smooth blue ribbon. She put on her brown boots tying them carefully and exited the room into the corridor.

She waited there cautiously listening if there was someone up in those hours at the main living room but she heard no one's voice. She crossed the corridor toward Cloud's bedroom. She placed her hand on the doorknob and leaned her ear against the wooden door. Hearing nothing ruffling inside she decided to check if Cloud had already returned. She slowly and gently opened the door trying not to make any sound and peeked inside. The room was silent, empty and the bed was made. Aerith closed back the door confused. He didn't come back. Anxiety made her heart start beating fast against her chest. She couldn't help wondering if something had happened to Cloud. Aerith couldn't just stand there. She rushed out of the house and into the streets.

Devastation was spread all over town. The air smelled like dust and there were tiny pieces of soot flying. It broke her heart to see Hollow Bastion like that and she dreamed of reconstructing it back up to a place they could pleasantly live in.

She didn't know how much time she spent walking along the streets looking around everywhere just trying to find him. Trying to find any sight of him. Any sound that could mean he was there. She breathed heavily, her heart panicky. She didn't want to scream his name because it could draw undesired attention but she was seriously thinking about it.

Suddenly she started hearing, faintly in distance, the sound of metal swords interlocking, banging. She didn't think twice and started running in the sound's direction. She turned right on one corner, ran down the road and then left in another street until she climbed down a roll of stairs leading to some clearing. She got a glimpse of his spiky blond hair as she ran before an explosion deafeningly rumbled and the orange color of the fire made her lift her arms to cover her face.

"Cloud!" She yelled at the top of her lungs as the impact of the blast engulfed her. She gulped for air as her chest tightened with fear of loosing him. When the fire started vanishing and she could see through the dust, she saw his body laying on the floor. She ran toward him sobbing and kneeled beside him lifting his head with her hands to rest it on her lap. She caressed his face taking his hair from his eyes and cleaning his cheeks. His eyes were shut but he tilted his head at the sound of her voice. "Cloud… Please open your eyes."

His eyelashes fluttered and soon enough two beams of ocean blue stared weakly up at her. She smiled of relief and lowered her forehead against his letting her tears fall on his cheeks. He moaned in pain and struggled to sit but fell right back with his head on her lap.

"My light." He mumbled.

"Ssshhh…" Aerith hushed him placing her fingertips softly on his lips. She noticed one thin string of blood running from the corner of his mouth down to his chin and couldn't hold in a sob. He was weak and holding on to life by a fragile string of hope. His eyes started closing. "Don't speak… You're hurt and you haven't regained all your senses. Let me help you." Aerith closed her eyes and turned her face to the sky to run one of her hands through his wounded body while the other one held the back of his head.

Slowly a small circle of wind lifted around them. A soft green light appeared under her hand as she ran it through his bleeding arms, his hurt chest, his sore throat and bruised knees. A long column on white surrounded them as she held him in her arms. She used all her energy into healing him, a blast of power emanating from her burst inside the circle of light they were in. Pebbles lifted in the air, a strong wind waved her braided hair and their clothes. She kept her eyes closed as she softly called for the planet to give her enough strength to save him.

She finally opened her eyes and looked down at him in between the protective column of glimmering white light. His clothes were still ragged in the places he had been dangerously cut but all the wounds were now gone, even the deeper ones. He was no longer bleeding.

"There was darkness… but then I saw a light…" When she looked at him his eyes were open and he grabbed her wrist with his strong but gentle hand. He felt her warm skin on his. "And it led me to you."

"Cloud…" Aerith whispered smiling and crying at the same time.

"You said I'd always be there for you." He continued speaking and lifted his hand to touch her face. "But you're the one who's always there for me."

"I always will."

"You are my light. When I was fighting him… I kept seeing you; I kept thinking I had to return to you."

"Sephiroth…" Aerith widened her eyes and looked around as reality struck her. "Where is he?"

"He's gone…" He pulled her attention back to him softly turning her face in his hand. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you." He sat up next to her still inside the circle of light surrounding them. His hand held her chin up and she grabbed his wrist keeping it there. For a moment inside that protective column of bright white they stared into each others eyes like there was no world outside, nothing to fight for and nowhere to return to.

Cloud leaned toward her and in her ear he whispered three simple words.

In a world shaken by destruction and fear they knew they had each other there to hold on to... forever.

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**Note**: Thank you for reading! I really hope you liked it! I think Aerith and Cloud make a really good couple.


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